Slow Spinning Redemption
by Brunette
Summary: So turn up the corners of your lips, part them and feel my fingertips. Trace the moment, for forever. Defenses paper thin, just one touch and I'll be in too deep now to ever swim against the current, so let me slip away.


_Author's Note: I seriously have eight documents sitting on my computer, waiting to be finished and posted, but I'm not in the mood for any of them. I was looking through some of my older stuff, 'cause I do that from time to time, and I realized I haven't written anything the slightest bit romantic in ... an eternity. So here's some of that fluff I usually can't stand, but am way overdo for, and really want to write._

_Disclaimer: I don't own the characters represented in this story. Even the girl, who shall remain nameless, I refuse to claim, as I'm letting you decide who she is. The title, as well as the summary and quote that begins it, come from the lyrics of Dashboard Confessional's "Vindicated."_

* * *

**Slow-Spinning Redemption**

_So turn up the corner of your lips  
Part them and feel my fingertips  
Trace the moment, for forever_

She heard footsteps just outside the door, and tensed, turning her wide, worried eyes to him. "Skittery --"

He flinched, jumping from the jumbled sheets and creeping across the small, dingy room to the door. She watched him, gripping her breath desperately as he ran his tongue over his lips and twisted the lock. She smiled, a sigh escaping her parted lips as he turned around again, grinning in an uncharacteristically amused way and starting back to the bed. She ran her hand through her tangled locks, gazing up at him coyly from where he stood at the edge of the rusty brass frame.

"I was really scared there for a second," she whispered, sitting up and unbuttoning the rest of her blouse. He glanced down the exposed length of humble, off-white corset and nodded slowly.

"Umm-hmm ..."

He reluctantly tore his gaze away from her to gain a quick, reassuring look at the door. The aged lock was engaged and he seemed satisfied. She watched him chew the inside of his cheek thoughtfully, and her brow furrowed in puzzlement. She pulled herself over to the edge where he stood, resting her hands on the waistband of his pants. They were too big for him and hung loose from his lithe body. He looked down at her, breathing a little sigh.

"How long're we gonna keep doin' this?" he asked quietly, scratching the back of his neck. She tilted her head, staring up into his dark, somber eyes curiously. Her fingers toyed with the button on his pants to distract herself from the weight of his words.

"What do you mean?"

He just kept gnawing on the inner flesh of his mouth, not quite looking at her. "I mean ... this is fun and all, but ... sneakin' into empty tenements and inn rooms, scared the whole time a landlord's gonna knock down the door -- I don't know ..."

She swallowed the dryness in her throat, gently untucking his shirt and gripping the fabric in her hands. "It's not ... so bad. What else would we do?"

Skittery watched her push the worn cotton up his torso, pressing her lips against his exposed skin. She felt his fingers winding around her hair, and felt him heave a sigh against her kisses. He pushed his suspenders off his shoulders, taking the frayed edges of his shirt from her hands and pulling the wasting fabric from his body. She smiled against his skin, her eyes traveling up to his gaze with a devilish little glint. He tilted her chin, leaning down and enveloping her mouth in his own. High heels clicked down the hall outside their door, and she withdrew from him suddenly, turning her head towards the thin, rotting wooden barrier.

She heard the ancient springs creak with the weight of his body as he sat down beside her. When she looked back at him, she realized he had been waiting anxiously for her eyes.

"Do you love me?" he demanded, reaching a hand to her face. She blinked, her eyes clouding with confusion.

"What?"

Skittery took a breath, his fingers trailing down her throat gently, slipping to the thick, sturdy hem of her corset. She gasped at the sensation of his rough, worked hands against the soft, rarely-exposed flesh. He picked impatiently at the keyhole hooks on the restrictive article of clothing.

"Do you love me?" he repeated.

She licked her lips, staring with wide, surprised eyes into his oddly serious gaze. "I -- yes. Of course I do."

Skittery smiled momentarily, running his hand down her body, down to her knee to gather the superfluous layers of her skirt and yank them up. He leaned down over her, and she inclined herself back, the springs crying out as they cradled her spine. She felt his fingers fumbling with the clasps on her garters.

"Do you wanna get married? Tonight?"

She snorted, watching him with incredulous eyes. "Are you serious?"

Skittery nodded, shifting his weight on top of her but keeping his gaze steadily plunging into her own. "Yeah. Let's go get married."

She breathed a quiet laugh, shaking her head. "Skits, you're only seventeen, and I'm --"

"Well, so?" he demanded impatiently, one of his hands sliding between them to unfasten her skirt. She gasped as his calloused knuckles brushed against her stomach in his haste. "Let's go to the court house, right after this."

She tilted her head to the side, watching him with amused eyes. "Where would we live? The Lodging House?"

He grunted, pulling her skirt down below her hips. "We'd get a tenement. One 'a them crappy cheap ones with cockroaches and mice."

"That's romantic," she murmured sarcastically. His eyes widened.

"Well what do you want me to say? We'll go get a big fancy mansion or shack up at the Waldorf?"

She sighed, reaching a hand to run her fingers through his thick, knotted hair. He sat up on his knees, struggling to remove his pants.

"It's not like it's gonna get any better, honey. If we get hitched right now or wait five years, we're gonna be in the same pit."

She blinked, missing the heat and weight of him on top of her. He slid the unsightly article of clothing from his legs, tossing the dirty, patched trousers to the floor. Within a moment, he was hovering over her again, unlatching the hooks on her corset anxiously.

"So if we're gonna be together," he sighed finally, unhooking the final clasp, "let's be together."

She swallowed hard, unable to draw his gaze away from her exposed skin. "You really want to be with me? You want to be stuck with me forever?"

Skittery jerked his eyes away from her body, staring his shock into her sad, waiting glance. "Yeah. As a matter 'a fact, I do. I wanna live in some tiny apartment and work some lousy factory job and knock you up like twelve times more'n we can afford."

She looked into his deep, endless brown eyes, feeling the anxiety pulsing through his body, desperately craving outlet in her own. A moan was waiting in the back of her throat, but she held it down, a strange smile creeping slowly into the angles of her face and mouth. Beyond her own understanding, she was laughing, her eyes brimming with tears.

"That's what you want?" she grinned, amused. A flash of hurt reflected in his eyes, and her stomach churned guiltily.

"Yeah. What's so funny about it?"

She swallowed her chortles, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Nothing, it's just ... that's what I want, too."

He smiled, bringing his lips down to kiss her. The hot sensation of his mouth made her mind go blank in a thoughtless frenzy. She forgot where she was until she felt the warmth of his murmured words against her face.

"I'm sorry it ain't much."

She twisted her legs out from under him, wrapping them tightly about his waist and drawing him even closer to herself.

"But I figger," he sighed, urging her to open her eyes, "it's the most we can hope for, under the circumstances."

_Defenses paper thin  
Just one touch and I'll be in  
Too deep now to every swim against the current  
So let me slip away_


End file.
